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tv   Key Capitol Hill Hearings  CSPAN  January 13, 2015 5:00am-7:01am EST

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competing ideas for how to do this. as neera said, we are going to have the budget season shortly in congress over the next couple months. in the next couple of months the president, the republicans democrats in congress will put forward their budget blueprints for the nation. while these budgets are loaded with numbers at their core, they reflect the plans for the future direction of the country and at their best, they should reflect the values of our nation. after i discuss the major economic challenge we are facing, i want to review the highlights of the budget plans that republicans and democrats have put forward to date and see how they measure up against the challenge we face. then i want to propose a new action for your consideration and the consideration of my colleagues. an action plan to grow the
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paychecks of all americans, not just the wealth of a few. that will be the order of the presentation. talk about the economic challenge, how current proposals stack up in meeting that challenge and additional action plan that i think that can meet that challenge. so, the economic challenge we face was well captured in the jobs report released last friday by the department of labor. first, there is the good news part of the story. it is very good news. the economy has continued to grow and more americans are finding jobs. last month, our economy created 252,000 jobs, capping the best year of job growth since 1999. the unemployment rate fell to 5.6%, which meant the unemployment rate fell faster last year than any year since 1984. the private sector has now added
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jobs for 58 consecutive months. 11.2 million jobs total. gas prices are down, the stock market is up and the deficit has fallen rapidly. this is all very good news. it would not have been possible without the tough decisions president obama made right after he was first sworn in to stop the economic freefall and put the nation on a path to recovery. but, i think everyone here knows there was a sobering side of to last friday's jobs report. one economic indicator remains grounded -- workers' paychecks. in fact, after a pretty solid increase in november, average hourly wages actually went down a little in december. that was captured in the "new york times'" business section
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headline that came out after the jobs report. job growth fails to help paychecks of workers. that tells the sobering side of the story. what i want to emphasize today is that this is not a new story. let me show you the first slide here. this shows what has happened in the recovery since the year 2010. the red line is the jobs , which you see is steady. the blue line reflects real wages -- flat and stagnant. but, what is even more surprising to many people is this is not even a new story from last month or the month before or even from 2010 which is where this particular slide starts. this is a story that has been
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going on for much longer period of time. now, if you look at this slide right here, you will see the dark blue line on top -- i don't know if everyone can see the chart -- that line shows productivity growth in the economy beginning in 1950. you should all have handouts. the light blue line, the bottom line at the end, reflects a typical worker's compensation -- wages and benefits. if you look at the far left of the chart, the beginning, that is 1950, you will see that the productivity growth line is rising and the typical workers compensation is rising with it. those lines are joined. that is the kind of economy where the pie is growing and
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everybody is getting a bigger slice. but since the 1970's, you could see those two lines diverging. there has been a troubling trend ever since. productivity, the top line continues to go up and up. the stock market has gone up and up, but paychecks and compensation for most americans have been very flat in real terms. as you can see, this has become a chronic problem dating back to the 1970's. there is a disconnect between the value workers are creating and what they are taking home. so, it is no wonder that so many americans feel they are on a treadmill and falling behind. if those productivity gains, that top line, has not slowed into real wages and compensation for workers, where have they gone? where have they gone?
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well, this chart tells that story. the income gains from increased productivity have gone overwhelmingly to those at the very, very top of the income scale. the top 1%. the after-tax real income of the top 1% grew by 200% between 1979 and 2010. five times as fast as the income for the 60% of people in the middle. the middle class. these are numbers from the nonpartisan congressional budget office. now, i think people have seen the growing body it economic evidence that shows the lopsided distribution of income not only hurts the middle class and those working their way into the middle class, it also slows down overall economic growth.
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a steady stream of reports from economists at cap, oecd, the imf, and many others show when the rules of the game are rigged to channel all the gains to the very top, it slows down the pace of economic growth throughout the economy. this is not just a question of economic fairness. it is a question of economic growth. a pro-growth strategy is one that promotes broadly shared prosperity. giving working americans a larger share of the economic pie can make the entire pie grow faster. even the wealthy can be better off with a smaller slice. of a more rapidly growing pie. henry ford understood this principle. he doubled the pay of his autoworkers and as a result they became customers who could afford to buy the cars they were
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making on the assembly line. higher wages resulted in ford motor company selling more cars and everybody was better off. henry ford and his workers. so, our challenge is to implement a strategy to rapidly grow our economy in a way that creates greater prosperity for all, not just the wealthy few at the very top. as i said, the upcoming budget debate will give the american people an opportunity to hear very different approaches to this challenge. i look forward to that debate. let's look at the budget plans that republicans and democrats have proposed to date. there is no simple solution, we all know that. one thing is clear -- the tired republican mantra of cutting tax
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rates for the very wealthy will only make this problem worse. the democratic approach of cutting special interest tax breaks to invest in expanding economic opportunities for all provides a solid foundation for an economy that works for everyone, not just the well-connected elites. let's take a look at each plan starting with the republican budget. republicans in congress, not necessarily around the country but in congress, continue to cling to the trickle down theory of economics. the idea of cutting tax rates for very wealthy people will give them even more money to spend and invest and that will trickle down to the masses and lift all economic boats. republicans sometimes argue these tax cuts for the wealthy will not increase -- result in larger deficits because they
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will generate so much economic activity that the lost revenue from the tax cut will be mostly recouped. i think we all know the problem with this trickle down theory. it has already crashed miserably in the real world. in the aftermath of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, we had a sluggish economy and stagnant incomes for most americans. the only things of that went up were the incomes of the already wealthy who got additional tax cuts and the deficit which went through the roof. but here is the thing. our republicans colleagues in congress remained undeterred from this real-world experience. here are the tax highlights from their last budget proposal. they would cut the tax rate for the folks at the very top by a
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whopping one third. they would take it from 39% today down to 25%. you could do the math. when you give very wealthy people, millionaires a big tax break, they are going to a lot better -- as this slide indicates, the average tax cut for millionaires is at least $200,000 a year. hours after the new congress was sworn in last tuesday, they changed the rules of the house to make it easier to disguise the deficit impacts of such tax cuts for the wealthy. since the real world math did not work, they want to impose a new congressionally imposed math. far from lifting this tax cut
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for the wealthy will further squeeze middle-class taxpayers. the well respected and nonpartisan center indicates a similar, deficit neutral plan offered by candidates mitt romney and paul ryan would have increased average taxes on middle-class families with children by more than $2000. if you cut the top rate for the folks at the top, you have to recoup a lot of income. if you do it in a neutral way -- you can try to but there are not enough deductions to recoup all that lost revenue so you have to go after the people in the middle. that is why there tax proposal mathematically increases the tax burden on middle-class families, according to the nonpartisan tax policy center. what else do they do? well, to add insult to injury, the republican budget dramatically reduces various tax
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benefits for middle class and lower income americans, right? it fails to extend enhancements to the child tax credit, to the earned income tax credit and the college tax credit called the american opportunity tax credit. the republican budget also wipes out the tax credits that are helping millions of americans afford health care under the affordable care act. taken together, these budget choices will cut tax benefits to millions of working americans, from single parents earning a minimum wage to families of college students with incomes up to $180,000 all cutting tax breaks for millionaires. republicans refuse to join us, the democrats on the hill, to close tax loopholes that have
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led to a growing number of corporate conversions. a maneuver used by some corporations to move their addresses overseas, change their american identities in order to escape their tax responsibilities to american taxpayers. by the way, when they pay less everybody else pays more. meanwhile, the republican budget plan absolutely slashes a part of the federal budget we use to make strategic national investments in education scientific research and innovation, and our vital national infrastructure. investments that historically have helped power our economy and build ladders of opportunity essential for a thriving middle class. here is the chart. this shows the amount that we spend on the nondefense
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discretionary budget, the part of the budget we use to invest in education and scientific research as a share of the economy over time. when i said slash i don't use that lightly. you can see that red line below the straight line across. that is what their budget does to this investment portion of our budget. as a share of the economy, the republican budget cuts the domestic discretionary budget almost 40% lower than the lowest level in the last 50 years. take the lowest level of the last 50 years, they cut as part of the budget by 40% lower. if you apply that proportionally, we will have a devastating effect on the investment of education and scientific research and things the power the economy. i think most americans would agree that combination of policy -- cutting tax rates for the wealthy, increasing the tax
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burden on working americans and cutting vital public investments will not result in sustained economic growth with more broadly shared prosperity. in fact, it will stack the economic deck even more heavily in favor of the very wealthy and powerful. let me hit the highlights of the current democratic budget proposals, which are aimed at growing the economy and opportunities for all americans. i don't know if you can read this. i do think it is important to understand that this is a description of current policies that have been put forward by the president, by democrats in congress, which would go a long way to lifting our economy and opportunities for more americans. if you look at this you will see the infrastructure initiative,
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the president has proposed closing a lot of the tax breaks that perversely incentivize american corporations to move jobs overseas. close those in use the savings to invest in and the structure and establish an infrastructure bank for public-private partnerships. we know investments in early childhood education are critical and the president has a $76 billion initiative in the budgets to do that. one that was adopted by democrats in congress. we increase our investment in scientific research which has showed huge dividends for the country over the years. we provide sequester relief. if we do it on the defense side, we should do it on the nondefense side. we made things permanent such as
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the ctc, the eitc, college tax credit. we have increased the eitc for childless workers something paul ryan has embraced, but it is not in their budget. we make permanent the r&d tax break for businesses. increased the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. equal pay for equal work. student loan relief. a number of initiatives we have put forward. earned paid sick leave so people don't have to lose their means to support their families when a loved one gets sick. comprehensive immigration reform which the congressional budget office indicates will help grow the economy. and modernizing regulations to ensure fair payment of overtime work. the administration just came forward with a proposal the other day. those are just some of the foundations that the budgets provide right now. now, i think of those policies will absolutely help boost the economy.
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they will absolutely help provide for more shared prosperity. it is a strong foundation. but, i believe in order to tackle that decades-old problem of chronic stagnant wages and very flat incomes for most americans, we need to go further. that is what i want to talk about today, which is an action plan to grow the paychecks of all, not just the wealth of a few. it begins with this observation. our tax code today is stacked in favor of people who make money off of money and against those who make money off of hard work. first, let's take a look at the size of spending that takes place through the tax code. take a look at this chart.
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this is entitled "spending through the tax code is very high." if you look at that red bar, then very high red bar, that is $1.4 trillion a year. that is the number that the nonpartisan congressional budget office says we are spending through the tax code from tax breaks like deductions, credits and tax exemptions. i just want to briefly go over the concept of spending through the tax code. economists call these tax expenditures because using these mechanisms to shelter income from a tax that is due is simply another way of delivering an economic benefit. just as you can deliver that same economic benefit through direct government spending right? if the government provides any of you with a tax exemption
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worth $1000, it is the same economic benefit as if the government gave you $1000. take a look at this chart. it shows that more is spent on spending through the tax code , through deductions and tax exemptions, each year than on social security. that is the next bar over. more spent through the tax code through these exemptions than on medicare and medicaid combined each year. more spent through tax breaks than all of our defense spending and nondefense spending. a lot of these tax expenditures have sound public policy purposes like promoting savings
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and retirement. like promoting savings by including money we put towards retirement savings. like in the business world providing the research and development tax credit to promote innovation. on the other hand, there are some provisions in here that are only in here because powerful elites with well-paid lobbyists have succeeded in getting special breaks. like the tax advantages for corporate jets or hedge funds managers. when you look at the distribution of these tax expenditures, who they go to on the income scale, this is what you find. that red piece on top of that bar on the far right shows that according to the congressional budget office, 17% of these tax expenditures go to
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the top 1%, right? the top 1% get 17% of the tax benefits in the tax code from deductions or tax exemptions. according to the nonpartisan congressional budget office. that is $150 billion in tax benefits through the code every year. now, why do the top 1% have this huge disproportionate share of tax benefits? one big reason is they have a lot of income from things like the sale of stocks and the tax code imposes lower tax rates on that kind of unearned income than it does on much income earned through hard work. indeed, the current system allows billions of dollars of capital gains to pass tax-free
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to heirs of multimillion dollar fortunes. not surprisingly, because the tax code favors those who make money off of money, the disparity of wealth has grown even faster than the disparity in incomes. take a look at this chart. again, interestingly, you see back in the 1920's huge wealth disparities but it came down and down during that time when worker productivity was matched with wages. again, beginning around the late 1970's, you see this wealth disparity taking off. now, the top 1% wealthiest households own 42% of the wealth of the country. that is because we have a tax code that reinforces this preference for wealth over work. let's go back to the early chart
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where we began to tell that story about the separation of worker productivity and flat wages. the proposal that i am making today to reform the tax code began from that premise, that we need a tax code that rewards those who earn their living through hard work and rebalance it against the fact that is in favor today of people who make money off money. it attacks this chronic problem of frozen paychecks and stagnant middle-class incomes from both directions. first, it is designed to promote bigger paychecks. second, it lets middle-class workers and those working their way into the middle-class keep and save more of what they earn. so, let's start with the incentives for higher pay and growing wages. my goodness, if the tax code
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can be used to provide preferences for corporate jets and race horses, surely we can use the tax code to incentivize corporations to give their employees pay raises or invest in apprenticeship programs that result in better skills and bigger paychecks. in the next 10 days, i will introduce the ceo-employee paycheck fairness act which is designed to encourage corporations to give their employees fair pay increases when their top executives are getting big bonuses. it is very simple. it says that corporations cannot continue to take unlimited tax deductions, we saw those tax expenditures, for their ceo and executive bonuses unless they are giving their employees a pay raise that reflects worker productivity plus cost-of-living increases. you saw that chart earlier.
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you solve that beginning in the late 1970's, productivity kept going up, average worker compensation was flat. let's see what happened to ceo executive compensation. here it is. this chart shows you that back in the late 1970's, ceos received a 30 times the compensation of the average worker. 30 times. today, ceo compensation has skyrocketed to almost 300 times compensation of the average worker. the average ceo compensation at the top 350 firms is over $15 million a year. between the year 2007 and 2010 corporations claimed a total of $66 billion in deductions for
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ceo and other executive compensation. now, under the bill i am introducing, corporations could still deduct up to $1 million for their executive salaries. up to $1 million. but, they would not get to cut their workers' pay or lay people off and then take those huge tax deductions for the multimillion dollar bonus packages. if a corporation is doing well enough to give their executives big bonuses, it should be giving its employees a raise. this bill is very simple. no raise for workers, no corporate tax breaks for executive bonuses. it is a common sense step we can take today to make sure the economy works better for everyone.
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we are also looking into a variation on this incentive linking the corporate tax deductions for executive bonuses and performance pay to the similar profit-sharing plans to regular employees. as studies by cap and others have shown, there is solid evidence that giving workers a stake in voice and the company they work for not only benefits workers, it makes those businesses more competitive as well. i also believe we need to support those businesses that invest in building the employee skills that lead to higher pay. apprenticeship programs are proven pathways to successful careers and higher incomes for workers while making those businesses more competitive. yet, apprenticeships are underutilized in the united states compared to our economic competitors. here, about 150,000 people start apprenticeships each year.
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as cap has pointed out, if we launch as many apprenticeships per capita as they do in germany, we would have about 2 million more here in the united states each year. some states like south carolina offer tax credits for apprenticeships. we should adopt these successful models to incentivize more businesses to invest in apprenticeships and other proven job-training programs that allows employees to earn while they learn. that is part of this action plan. now, the first two elements of this plan are things i just talked about. ceo-employee paycheck fairness act and business tax credits for apprenticeships and training programs. those are using the tax code to incentivize higher pay for workers and more skills that lead to higher pay.
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as i said, we have to address middle-class wage and income stagnation from both sides. we need to boost wages and use the tax code to do that. but, we also need to allow middle-class workers and many of those working to join the middle class to keep more of what they earn. and, so the next item on here begins in a very important way to address that. to try and boost the take-home pay of middle-class workers and those who seek to join the middle class. and allow them to save more of what they earn. again, as i said, the current tax code is skewed in favor of people who make money off of money. we want to make sure the tax code works for people who make money off of hard work. and that's why i propose a
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paycheck bonus tax credit of $1,000 per worker or $2,000 for a two-earner couple to boost the after-tax take home pay of middle class americans. i also intend it to be at least partially refundable, and we'll look at ways to do that. this paycheck bonus credit would be indexed to inflation and phased out at incomes of $100,000 per individual, $200,000 per working couple. now, as we shape the tax code to give hard working middle class americans more take-home pay, we should also encourage americans to save for their future. this is another area where cap has done much good work. not surprisingly, americans who are struggling to pay their bills don't have a lot of leftover income to put away for their future needs.
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and while the current tax code provides for such savings vehicles like 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts this can be difficult to access or set up, some employers don't provide them, and the top 5% of income earners get more tax relief from these savings plans than the bottom 80%. as a result, the typical worker nearing retirement age has only saved up enough in an ira or 401(k) to provide $500 a month in retirement income. so i propose to build the savings of typical workers with the saver's bonus of $250 each year that an individual directs at least $500 of his or her paycheck bonus tax credit or earned income tax credit into a tax-preferred savings account. studies show that even small financial incentives can encourage many more people to
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participate in these savings plans. we also need to make it much easier for people without access to those plans through their employers to set up these accounts. last year president obama took a major step forward by providing an easy way for employers to allow their workers to deposit some of their paychecks into designated myra accounts that the treasury department will be rolling out. as part of this action plan, i propose to allow taxpayers to use their tax returns to immediately direct their $500 contribution which would earn the $250 saver's bonus and do it right there. direct their funds in the matching bonus to the savings vehicle of their choice. right there on your tax return
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check off that you're going to do $500 or more direct to your savings, get $250 saver's bonus and do it right there on your tax form. if a working couple were to each direct $750 of their paycheck bonus credit which they'll be getting which will be new income to that household in a sense, or someone receiving their eitc were to do that, after 40 years they would save $300,000 under reasonable investment growth assumptions. this plan also recognizes -- so i talked about the saver's bonus at the top of the list there -- the next item relates to take-home pay for two-earner families. and this plan recognizes that the current tax code creates a disincentive for second earners in a household to join the work force, because the first dollar
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earned by that second earner is taxed at the rate on the last dollar earned on the household member who is already in the work force. and this marriage penalty is especially pronounced for families with young children or elderly live-in dependents who face large childcare or adult daycare costs if the second spouse chooses to enter the work force to support the family. so to address this, we should provide these families with a 20% tax deduction on up to $60,000 of their income. this rewards work, reduces the marriage penalty and makes the tax code fairer to second earners and their families. in addition, we should modernize the child independent care tax -- the child and dependent care
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tax credit. the cost of childcare has increased dramatically since 2001, but the cap on eligible expenses has remained the same. it's remained stuck at $3,000 for one child. this is eligible expenses. and $6,000 for two or more children. in addition, this cap on the child and dependent care tax credit is incredibly poorly designed. it phases down starting at lower income levels, meaning virtually no one can access its higher level of benefits the way it interacts with other parts of the tax code. we should modernize this credit by significantly raising the amount of the eligible credit, indexing it to inflation so it doesn't get stuck again and making it refundable so that millions of families that struggle the most to pay for childcare will be able to benefit from this credit. and the details are in the handouts that you have. we estimate that over the next ten years, the elements of this
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plan will provide over $1.2 trillion in tax benefits that are aimed directly at boosting the take-home income of working middle class taxpayers and those working to join the middle class. more than 150 million americans will benefit in some real way from this effort to raise flat incomes experienced by so many. and this plan to reward work is fully paid for by changing some of those ways that our current tax code is wired in favor of making off of money instead of earning money from hard work. so it's paid for with a combination of two sources. first, it curbs the tax breaks that favor portfolios over paychecks. as i discussed earlier, the top 1% of income households currently receive 17% of the
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benefit of major tax expenditures, the spending in the tax code. a total of about $150 billion a year or more than $1.5 trillion over a ten-year budget window. without increasing anybody's top tax rate, we can reduce this disproportionate share of benefits and dedicate the revenues to tax relief for hard working middle class taxpayers and those working to join them. second, we should adopt a high roller fee to curb financial excessive financial speculation. by acting in coordination with the european union and major financial markets, the united states can reduce the kind of market gambling that creates no value for the economy by placing a tiny fee on trading in the financial markets. we already place a very tiny fee on stock transactions to fund the securities and exchange commission, and many other countries including the u.k.
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france, singapore and hong kong have some form of these financial trading market fees. the e.u. is moving toward a trading fee of .1%. ten basis points. on a broad range of financial market transactions. for comparison purposes, the united kingdom already applies a fee that is five times higher than that on their stock trades, 0.5%, 50 basis points. a 0.1% financial market trading fee would be virtually imperceptible to average investors who already bear transaction costs on every trade that some estimate to be three times higher than that. at the same time, this fee would rein in the kind of computerized, high-speed trading that skims value from regular investors without adding value to the economy. american financiers and high rollers have claimed that such a
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fee would push financial trading overseas, but if we do it in concert with others, we can curb unproductive financial speculation and replace it with a source of revenue to support the action plan to grow the take-home pay of 150 million americans, and in doing so, grow the whole economy. as i said at the outset, this proposed action plan builds on the already-strong foundation of the budgets president obama and democrats in congress have proposed in the past. those budgets which steadily reduce our deficits over the next ten years, strengthen the ladder of opportunities to help americans achieve the american dream. this action plan, which by itself will not add a penny to the deficit, will further help us meet the economic challenge of our time. a rapidly growing economy that works for all americans, not just those already at the top. in closing, let me leave you with this final comparison of the tax differences between the
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republican approach and this action plan. what it would mean for a family in the real world. as i indicated earlier, the trickle-down tax cuts for the wealthy in the republican budget result in an average tax cut of over $200,000 for millionaires. and at the same time as you saw earlier, the tax center found that a comparable republican plan presented by mitt romney and paul ryan would have the effect of raising taxes on middle income families by an average of $2,000. now, at the outset when the introduction was made, neera mentioned that cap had looked at a family at the $80,000 income level and said that over a period of time that family had lost about $5,000 as a result of the forces i've been talking about in my speech.
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let me show you what this plan would do compared to the republican plan for a middle class family. as i said, the romney-ryan plan which is very similar to the one on the republican budget would increase taxes by $2,000 on a typical middle class family with kids. this plan, and we took an $80,000 family. we did not coordinate in advance. this is a typical working family, two-earner couple paying for childcare for one child on an $80,000 income. and under this plan they would get a $4,400 tax benefit allowing them to keep more of what they earn to help their family. so i look forward to this debate going forward. we need an action plan that addresses this problem from both sides, as i said.
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we need to encourage companies and businesses to give their employees a fair wage, and we need to allow middle income families and those families working their way into the middle class to keep more of what they earn. and in doing so, we need to build a fairer tax code that rewards paychecks for work and not just money from making money. and i look forward to this debate going forward, i thank you for your attention and again, i thank cap for all their important contributions to this debate. many thanks. [applause] >> thank you so much for laying out so many critical new ideas. i think we have time for just a few questions, so as people are thinking through their questions, and billy will be here to give you a microphone,
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let me just start with one brief question. you know, there's a debate in washington, there seems, about fairness versus economic growth. and i just thought it'd be helpful to, you talk a lot about how the tax system could be more fair, how we could have a more fair economic system. how do you see that relating to economic growth? >> well, i think that's a great question. as i indicated in my remarks the economic evidence indicates that our entire economy will grow faster if more people are earning the benefit of their hard work and productivity. when you have that big gap between worker productivity and income, it doesn't just hurt the middle class families with flat income, it actually slows down overall economic growth. so if you want a growing pie for all, we need a pie where
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everybody can get a little bigger slice. and as i indicated earlier, even the folks at the very top can do better with a somewhat smaller slice of a larger pie. they will end up ahead of the game just like henry ford was ahead of the game. >> great. over here in the middle. with the tie. could you just identify yourself? >> yes. peter rosenstein with the american academy of orthotists and prosthetists. congressman, i think the plan is great. how do you convince voters in
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simple language that this is good for them? clearly they do not understand it either votes. we have heard a discussion that is very complicated, using federal legalese. how do you put that into an ad of 30 seconds to 60 seconds of the average voter understands and will vote for democrats to get this done in 2016? >> thank you. angel paying the -- the average voter is feeling squeezed. as i indicated, i think that a lot of proposals democrats have put forward in the past will help address that issue, but i don't think they address it with the full force that is necessary to move that graph that we saw the one with the rising
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productivity but flat wages. and so that's why i'm proposing this new action plan. and i believe when you go around the country and just show, you know, working americans what the differences in the plans will be that the republican plan that was put forward in the congress last year that mirrors the romney-ryan tax plan will squeeze middle class taxpayers and that this plan will provide over $4,000 worth of new income to a typical $80,000 two-earner family with a kid, that that tells them we're actually focused on things they care about -- their pocketbook and the economic squeeze. so, look, i see this as the start of a conversation. we want everyone to participate in this debate. but i do believe that this action plan will, you know, in time get the attention of the american people, and i look
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forward to the continuing discussion. >> over here. this side. >> hi, congressman van hollen, rob schroeder from market watch. just wanted to ask about the financial fee. what transactions in particular would this apply to? would it just be stocks? would it be retail investors? and can you talk about the timing? why now? you mentioned the market's up. >> sure. well, this is, this would apply in secondary markets, it would apply to, yes, stock trades. as i indicated, we already have a very small fee on stock trades to help fund securities and exchange commission. and the u.k. already has a 50-basis-point fee on stock trades. what this proposes is a fee one-fifth that size, right? one-fifth of what the u.k. has on stocks, but on a broader range of market trading. so in equities, in derivatives. which really matches the kind of approach that the european union
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is looking at. so if you take a look at what the e.u. is currently looking at, we intend to work with them and in concert with them and other major markets to address that issue and address, you know, the argument that if you do it unilaterally, the trades will move to another financial center. i mean, interestingly, you know, the financial sector is pretty good. i don't blame them, they go over to the european markets, they say don't do this because otherwise all the trades will flow to the united states, and then they come to the united states and say don't do this because all the trades will flow over to london and european markets. so that's why we need to do this together. but in addition to the revenue as i indicated, there are important policy reasons to be imposing this small fee, dampening excessive speculation and, as i said, dealing with this issue of computerized high-speed trading which essentially, skims value out of the economy for the high-speed traders but doesn't do anything for everybody else except for,
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in fact, reduce their shares. >> i think that is the last question. >> kelsey from politico. i am just wondering if you have a timeframe in mind of when you will finalize the details. you said you have not figured out yet what -- how the tax break part would work and do you know what the increase looks like? chairman ryan already dismissed this plan as a tax hike. >> first of all, we are moving forward on pieces of this right away. i will be introducing the ceo employee paycheck fairness act within the next ten days, and then we will continue to put into legislative form some of these other provisions over a period of time, but we want to kick off the debate. there is a lot of detail here
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but obviously we need to flesh it out more. i am not surprised by the response from republicans on the hill who put forward a budget that cuts cut the top tax rate for millionaires by a full one third which has an effect of squeezing middle-class families. republicans always say they are for smaller government and less spending. when it comes to the tax code they are simply for spending money through the tax code on powerful elites and the already wealthy. as we saw, more is spent through the tax code each year than on social security or on medicare or medicaid combined. republicans have done a pretty good job of steering that $1.3 trillion of tax expenditure benefits to folks at the very
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top. which is why you see rising wealth inequality that's absolutely staggering. 42% of households, 1% of households owning 42% of the wealth. apparently that's the republican plan, the status quo. they want to make it even worse when it comes to middle-class families as we saw. >> thank you for the great ideas. >> thank you for the discussion. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> e-house panel will hold a panel on the threat from north korea. live coverage starts at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3. later, coverage of the heritage foundation's conservative summit. senators rand paul and mike lee
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are scheduled to speak. live at 1:00 p.m. eastern. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and democratic senator richard durbin spoke on the senate floor about last week's attacks in paris. here's what they said. appening in paris. we've seen some remarkable displace of support -- displays of support for the french people. we've seen defiant recommitments to the ideals of free expression and the french people should know that the u.s. senate stands in solidarity with them, as they work to recover from such awful terrorist atafntle attacks. they should also be assured that we are prepared to cooperate i the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: mr. president later today members of the senate family will have an opportunity to -- two opportunities to express our solidarity with the people of
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france in their hour of grief in a short while the senate will consider a resolution condemning the series of terrorist attacks that have shaken france, starting with the attack on the offices of the satirical newspaper sahara lee hebdo and leading with an tac on a grocery market in pairs. our condolences to the families and victims of the people of france. it also expresses our deep commitment to the universal right of freedom of expression, a freedom for which the writers and artists of sahara lee hebdo gave their lives. later this afternoon senators and their staffs will have an opportunity to sign a condolence book. the book will be outside the senate foreign relations committee room on the first
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floor of the capitol. in memory of the victims we'll welcome the french ambassador to the united states, ambassador gerrard areaux. if the terrorists who committed the attack meant to frighten freedom-loving people in frons and around the world they have failed utterly. yesterday 4 million people marched in demonstrations in cities across the nation of france. 1.5 million people marched in paris alone. authorities said it was the largest gathering in paris since the end of world war ii and the largest demonstration in the history of the nation of frangs. -- of france. they marched to declare their solidarity with the victims of the sahara lee hebdo massacre and the supermarket massacres and to democrat demonstrate their unity. the marchers included many
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religious faiths and nonbelievers. the president of france led the marchings joined by the israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu, the palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas and america's ambassador to france and our assistant secretary of state. marchers were also held -- marches were also held in other cities around the world. tens of thousands of people showed their solidarity with the victims of the terrorist afaction in france. in chicago hundreds of people turned out in the cold yesterday to rally at daily plaza. one of the organizers of the chicago rally was a young woman named eve zuckerman who has lived in chicago for about four years. she said the spasm of violence that has shaken france is not simply an attack on france. in her words "what it real lay means is that anyone who is for freedom and for tolerance is
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also under attack." in our own country in the days after 9/11, our grief was made bearable by the countless acts of courage and kindness and solidarity we witnessed mongt the corn carnage. so it is in france today. one story concerns a young man who worked at the kosher supermarket in paris that was attacked on friday. the young man risked his life to hide seven jewish customers in the freezer in the supermarket's basement. he then risked his life again to slip out of the basement and tell the police there were people hidden out-stairs. this young man described the layout of the supermarket and the location of the hostages, crucial details that enabled the police to save so many lives and end the standoff. this young man has been hailed as a here reby citizens of france and by israeli president
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netanyahu. one more thing: he is a muslim immigrant born in mali. martin luther king jr. told us, we're bound together in a single garment of destiny. the millions of people in france and around the world who marched yesterday and freedom-loving people throughout the world understand this. together in our unity and resolve, we will overcome this latest assault on our shared values. mr. president, over the weekend as i mentioned as millions of people were marching on the streets of france and around the world to demonstrate the world's unity in the aftermath of the horrible terrorist attack in france the president announced that he would hold a summit at the white house next month to discuss >> on our next washington
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journal, congressman bill flores joins us. peter welch discusses his party's you can also join the conversation on facebook and twitter. dr. anthony, our guest this sunday on q & a is on the front line battling against infectious diseases. >> we have drugs right now that when given to people who are h.i.v. infected if squn comes in, i can show you the early 1980's if someone came into my clinic with aids, their median survival would be six to eight
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months meaning half of them would be dead in eight months. now, if tomorrow, when i go back to rounds on friday and someone comes into a clinic who's 20 plus years old who's relatively recently infected and i put them on the combination of three drugs, i could accurately predict, look them in the eye and say we could do mathematical modeling to say if you take your medicine regularly you could live an additional 55 zero years. so to go from knowing that 50% of the people will die in eight months to knowing if you take your medicines you could live essentially a normal life span, just a few years less than normal life span. that's a huge advance. >> director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases, sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-span q abd a. >> next, senator ted cruz talks
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about the g.o.p. agenda. topics include the federal budget, border security and immigration. this is an hour. >> it's been a great day, got a chance to pick some of it up online. get a lot of coverage around the country. good ideas, good discussion, but i can't think of anyone i'd rather introduce right now than ted cruz. there are very few people i know in any organization, especially in congress, who have the intellectual capabilities to understand complex problems, to actually come up with good solutions. but then to have the courage, the personal fortitude to actually push those ideas
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through and to stand up to incredible pressure, the kind of pressure i was talking about this morning from all the big croneys in washington that want to maintain the status quo, ted cruz has been willing to stand up and say no. i was talking to him on the way in i said things seem to be going pretty well. he said it's like the guy who's fallen off the building, every four he goes by, he says so far so good. i know that feeling, the bottom is coming right? i think ted cruz is definitely on his way up. that's what i hear around the country. not so much thanks for what you've done or all the victories you've won, but more than anything else, i hear thanks for fighting. and that's what people want is someone to just stand up for what they believe, stand up for the values of americans and just do what you can. ted cruz has definitely done that as much as anyone i know. i'm real proud to know him. ted, come share your thoughts.
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[applause] >> well, thank you very much jim. thank you each of you for having me here. good afternoon on this cold wintry day in washington. these are extraordinary times. these are remarkable times. you know just last week walking down the hallway in the capitol i ran into a janitor carrying a screwdriver coming to change the sane on harry reid's door. [laughter] [applause] i'll tell you with all great change there's you'llly
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foreshadow. you know you could get the foreshadowing of a november election come august september october. you know one of the first signs is suddenly the democratic senators were nice to us. [laughter] they were looking ahead to election day, and you would be on tell vator, hey, what a great tie that is. have you lost weight? you're looking sharp. like ok, so contemplating losing that chairman's gavel are you? it was an astonishing election in november. but it's important to understand what the election signifies. the election was not an embrace of republicans. the election was not an embrace of one party.
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instead the election in my view was the voters roundly repudiating the path we're on. this was an election which the voters said listen the obama economy, it ain't working. we want something different. we want real leadership. i got to say republicans have an opportunity, an incredible opportunity right now. we have been once again entrusted with leadership in congress. and i wanted to say thank you for hosting this event because as i understand this event the core focus is you got a majority, what are you going to do with it? and you know there's a division of thought in this town. there are some people in this town who will intone in gravelly voices we need to get things
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done. oddly enough the people saying that it doesn't really matter what those things are. there are voices who will say if you stand for anything, significant, that has risk. i remember in the last two years people said no, no, no, republicans you shouldn't stand and fight on anything. because you don't have a majority. ok we have a majority. and mark my words suddenly there are voices saying we still shouldn't stand and fight because you don't have 60. you know what, if we had won 60 seats in the senate you would hear the voices saying no no, not yet. you don't have 67 votes.
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i'll tell you this, if you get elected, promising to do nothing when you're in office you will do nothing. i'm going to suggest a different way to get things done, a different way to govern, and a different way to win elections. listen, i very much agree with president ronald reagan who said the republican party is not a fraternal order. it's not simply about hanging around with guys in blue sweaters instead of red sweaters. it is a movement unified around a shared set of ideals. liberty, the constitution. and it matters only in so far as we are standing up and defending those constitutional values.
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so what i would encourage my friends, my colleagues in the republican party in the senate and the house is something very, very simple. let's stand up and lead. let's lead with a big bold, positive agenda. that says to the american people you had a referendum and you rejected the obama agenda. there is a better way. that's our opportunity. i'll tell you, for all the republicans intoning we must get things done, if we simply settle into business as usual in this town and keep growing and growing and growing and keep shrinking and shrinking that we
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will demoralize the millions of men and women who came out in november and gave republicans the biggest majority in the house since the 1920's. not only will we not win elections we'll get whole lopped and we'll deserve to get whollopped. what i would urge any colleagues to do is very, very simple. it's the advice a lot of us here have kids. every one of us has told our kids tell the truth and do what you said you would do. that is the advice i would give every one of our colleagues. you know it's striking in the senate. two years ago, i remember joining the other republican freshmen in mitch mcconnell's office. there were three of us. it was lonely.
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it was really lonely. we had enough for a game of spades. this year, there are 12 republican freshmen . a dozen. nearly a quarter of the republican conference are freshmen and i'll tell you what i have encouraged every freshmen is that each of you that just fought and clawed to win an election, if each of you in the conference simply stands up every day and says hey, let's do what we said we would do, that will have a transformational effect on the united states senate. if each and every senator in january answers questions the exact same way we would have answered those questions in october before the election, that will have a transform tive
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effect. they should take this opportunity to lead with a big bold agenda that focuses on jobs, on liberty and on security. and let me talk about ten specific agenda items that we should take up and pass and these are agenda items i laud out before the election. if we won a majority this is what we should do and after the election. step number one, embrace a big job growth and opportunity agent. that means a host of things. it means for example as we will do this week finally finally, finally passing the keystone pipeline. but listen, jobs are a lot more than keystone. keystone matters. it is an example of partisan
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politics trumping common sense in this town. but we need a jobs agenda, an energy agenda far broader than that. we've seen incredible growth in the energy sector in the last several years. last year i introduced the american energy renaissance act a comprehensive piece of legislation to remove the federal barriers to creating millions of high paying jobs in the private sector in the energy sector. and not just in energy, low cost energy is also bringing manufacturing jobs back, bringing steel jobs back bringing the kind of jobs that built the dignity of the middle class in america. we need to pass legislation making clear that the federal government has no authority to regulate or prohibit fracking. that the states are perfectly
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poised to make determinations in their own state and there's no need for the feds to stick their nose in the middle of it. we need to remove the arbitrary export bans on liquid natural gas, on crude oil. we need to open up federal lands to exploration to development. president obama loves to brag about the energy exploration during his tenure without noting that virtually all of it has happened on private land and federal land and the federal government has been standing as a barrier to developing those resources. number two, we need to do everything humanly possible to repeel obama care. [applause]
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you know five years ago when obama care was being debated, reasonable mind perhaps put it different over whether this thing might work. today, seing the devastation seeing the train wreck seeing the millions of americans who have lost their jobs, who have been forced into part time work, who have lost their health care, who have lost their doctors, today the only reasonable, prudent outcome is to acknowledge this thing isn't working. first of all, congress showed take up and using every tool available, including
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reckonciliation, repeal obama care. now, the president is very, very likely to veto it. for the next two years we're not going to have the votes to override that veto. what we then need to do is systemically begin teeing up legislation after legislation addressing the most harmful consequences of obama care, providing real relief to the millions of people who are hurting. for example, we need to introduce legislation, take it up and vote on it saying if you like your health insurance plan you can keep your health insurance plan. the president repeatedly looked in the tv cameras and made that promise over and over and over again, we need to codify it for the six million people who had their health insurance plans canceled because of obama care. we need to address the pain the federal government has caused to
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them. and i would note that also puts democrats in an interesting position. there are lots of senate democrats who say well gosh, i like obama care in the abstract but there are individual problems with it ok? let's start talking about those individual problems. one after the other after the other, you decide, as a senate democrat if you're in favor of the federal government causing people to lose their health insurance plans or not. you decide if you're a senate democrat that you're in favor of the federal government bailing out giant insurance companies or not. we need to pass straight forward legislation that prohibits federal government bailout to the insurance companies. one after the other after the other we need to pass these. now one of two things is going to happen. one, the democrats balk at either filibuster through the senate or through the president
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vetoing it. or two they pass into law. if the latter, we begin to provide meaningful relief to the people who are really former and if the former, there is absolute clarity as to where the party stand and what we stand for. but we need to honor those commitments. number three, we need to finally secure the border and stop the president's unconstitutional amnesty. [applause] you know it's amazing, right now the white house is cassity gating republicans, how dare you focus on securing the border. literally at the very same time we are seeing terrorists trying to murder free people across the globe. the very same day they have been
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hacked by isis, the white house press secretary is too busy saying no, no, don't do anything to secure the border and protect americans. this is a matter of basic common sense. i got to tell you one of the fun things about washington is listening to senate democrats who live in states far, far away from the border. explain to those of us who live in states on the border how wonderfully secure the border really is. i have a modest suggestion. perhaps we should move the white house down to the rio grand valley. [laughter] after all, there can't be more people climbing the white house fence than there are now.
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you know when you go down to the valley, and in texas we have a nearly 202,000 mile border on the southern border what you hear from people who live there, what you hear from law enforcement, from local elected officials, and by the way from republicans and democrats is secure the borders and protect our security. it's a basic common sense issue and hen it comes to amnesty, anyone who's concerned about rule of law, anyone who is concerned about separation of powers, anyone who believes in the constitution should be deeply deeply dismayed. by the president's decree that he will simply ignore federal law. when he tried to grant amnesty to millions of voters said voters. what's interesting about the president's approach on that is it seems like it's always,
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always, always political. before the election president obama said this election will be a referendum on my policy, every one of my policies will be on the ballot. president obama was right. words that have not been said often at the heritage foundation. but you better believe if the senate democrats had been re-elected if harry reid had grown as majority, the president would have gotten up and said the people have spoken and they have embraced my agenda. instead the president got up and said the people who didn't vote have spoken! never mind those perfecty people that actually showed up and expressed their views. let me say something about both obama care and amnesty. we brought michael j. fox up
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here in a delorian and we went back in time to october of 2014, not too long ago. you would see republican can'ts saying if you elect us, if you give us a republican majority, what will we do? number one, we're going to fight tooth and nail to repeal obama care. the number one topic republican can'ts raised on the campaign trail. and number two if you elect us if you give us a republican majority, we're going to stop president obama's illegal and unconstitutional amnesty. that was just over two months ago. and yet now when the topics come up, at times you hear crickets chirping. it ain't complicated. we need to do what we said we
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would do. [applause] number four, we need to hold government accountable and reign in judicial activism. one of the most important things this new senate is going to provide i hope and believe is real meaningful oversight of the obama administration. of the abuse of power of the lawlessness, of the regulatory abuse. i'm looking forward to what i hope will be republican chairman conducting careful soberer, serious inquiries, into the abuse of power into the millions of people who are hurting because of it. i'm looking forward to seeing the united states senate finally begin doing its job. for six years harry reid has been barack obama's most important protector. i'm looking forward to seeing
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serious inquiries into the tramping of religious liberties that have occurred over the last six months. i'm looking forward to seeing finally some real scrutiny to prevent judicial activists from being put on the bench who will impose their own radical agenda including sadly the judicial activism we have seen in recent months. with the courts effectively striking down the marriage laws in 33 states. constitution makes clear marriage is a question for the states it's not a question for a bunch of unelected federal judges who may disagree with the democratic views of the people who live in the united states of america. number five, time to stop the culture of corruption.
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i've said a lot of times that the biggest divide we have in this country politically it's not between republicans and democrats, it's not between the establishment and the tea party as our friends in the media like to write about. it is instead between career politicians and washington in both parties and the american people. now i am hopeful we will see real, bold leadership from republicans and next. but i got to say the lame duck was aptly named. it was not encouraging to see the giant pile of corporate welfare being the first things republicans rushed to pass through. wouldn't it be nice to see our
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elected officials respond with the same diligence to the taxpayers that they respond to the promises made to lobbyist on k street. this town is fundamentally corrupt. both parties come together and they say let's reauthorize the x.m. bank, why? helps a whole bunch of giant corporations, just hurts the little guys. the big guys give us checks, the little guys don't. one of the many, many reasons we need to finally, finally finally pass a term limits amendment to the united states constitution. serving in congress should not be a lifetime job. but what should be lifetime is a ban on members of congress becoming lobbyists and coming back after serving in this job. [applause]
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we need to pass fundamental tax reform making our tax codes simpleler, flatter fairer. and i'll tell you the single most important tax reform. we should abolish the i.r.s. [applause] now, the voices of washington will say tsk-tsk. that is inconsistent with getting things done. you know i will note some years ago steve forbes did a remarkable job starting to build the foundation for a flat tax. a simple flat tax that is fair that every american could fill out his or her taxes on a postcard. the last two years i believe have fundamentally changed the dynamics of this debate.
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as we have seen the weapon zation of the i.r.s. as we have seen the obama administration using the i.r.s. in a partisan manner to punish its political enemies. in my view there is a powerful populace instant. to take the 110,000 employees at the i.r.s., to padlock the building and to put all 110,000 of them down on our southern border. [laughter] [applause] now, i say that somewhat tongue in cheek. but you got to think look, if you were coming illegal lie into this country, if you had traveled hundreds of thousands of miles in the grinding heat if you swam across the rio grand and the first thing you saw was
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110,000 i.r.s. agents? you would turnaround and go home too! it may well be the case that we won't succeed in abolishing the i.r.s. and adopting a flat tax with barack obama in the white house. we may have to wait two years for a republican president to lead that fight. but what we can do in the interim is we can one after the other after the other tee up simplification of the tax code. make the burden easier. reduce the power of washington which produces growth that unchains the citizenry and
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weakens the power of washington. number 7 we need to audit the federal reserve. one of the most corrosive things we've seen over the last six years has been an easy money policy qe1, qe2 qe infinity. and i am reminded of john edwards' speech, "two americas." john edwards, in this respect, was right. another sentence rarely said in heritage. if you go to wall street, if you go to those with wealth and power to wawho walk of the
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corridors of power in the obama administration, the conventional view is money is great. we are not seeing significant inflation. i will tell you come it if you go talk -- i will tell you if you go talk to working men and women. if you talk to a hispanic labor like my father was when he came to this country. if you talk to a single mom waiting tables at a diner. they've seen the price of milk go up. the price of chicken go up. the price of ground beef go up. they had seen until recently the price of gasoline go up. they've seen the price of electricity go up. they have seen their health
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insurance, they were promised a $2500 cut and instead have seen it rise $3000 a family. they've seen the median wage stagnate for two decades now. if you are a single month and the cost of everything you are paying keeps going up and the one thing that does not keep going up as your paycheck every two weeks, you are feeling the consequence of washington's easy money policy. we need stable, consistent strong monetary policy. number eight, it is long past time for us to pass a strong balanced budget amendment. take it up, the on it, and -- taken up, vote on it, and pass it.
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what we are doing to our kids and grandkids right now, in my view is fundamentally irresponsible. by the way, this is not a particularly conservative view. this is basic common sense. get out of this offer stake in town. -- get out of this godforsaken town. go to anywhere in america and talk to real life people. republican, democrat independent, libertarian and lay out some basic ends -- live within your means. do not bankrupt our kids and grandkids. follow the constitution. there's nary a room in this country outside washington d.c. where the entire room would not
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agree with us. tell me in washington, when you say we should stop piling debt higher and higher on our kids, that statement is viewed as radical. extreme. it is only the views of his vast majority of americans. basic common sense. when barack obama became president 60 years ago, our national debt was just over $10 trillion. today it is $18 trillion. larger and the size of our entire economy. all of the republicans who campaigned saying we are going to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids, let's stand up and follow through. actually do that. the best way to do that is to put in the constitution strong protections to prevent congress from continuing to dig this hole deeper and deeper.
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[applause] number nine, we need to repeal common core. [applause] we need to get the federal government out of the business of dictating educational standards. that would be the nsa interested in what we are saying. [laughter] education is far too important for it to be governed by unelected bureaucrats in washington. it should be at the state level or even better, the local level. we need to at the same time embrace and champion school choice for every child in america. every child has a right to
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access a quality education regardless of race, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of religion, regardless of socioeconomic status. in my view, school choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century. and i forgot to say the differences on this issue are stark. new york mayor bill de blasio one of the first things he did was try to thrill young african-american kids out of the schools that were performing for them and -- in harlem. a sad thing to see politicians more interested in pleasing union bosses writing checks to them than the kids who want hope. a sad thing to see the department of justice coming against young african-american and hispanic kids in louisiana
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saying we are going to check on your opportunity to get access to a better education. we are coming up on martin luther king day. i can think of nothing that would be a greater legacy for dr. king than for us to embrace across parties, across grace across lines, that we are united in saying every kid has a right to a quality education regardless of who they are. finally, we have got to deal seriously with the twin threats of isis and a nuclear iran. these are dangerous times. this past week, we have been stunned to see radical islamic terrorists murdering innocents
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in paris. our hearts weep for the journalists wrongfully murdered for the police officers targeted and murdered, for the jewish customers at a grocery store murdered because of who they are. this is part and parcel of a longer pattern across the globe. in recent months, we have seen radical islamic terrorists attacking in sydney, in canada in israel, hamas terrorists coming in with janay butcher knives and murdering israeli-american rabbis in synagogue as they prayed.
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we have seen isis beheading journalists. we've seen the taliban murdering schoolchildren in pakistan. we have seen boko haram kidnapping little girls and murdering thousands. these are not isolated incidents . these are not challenges for law enforcement. this is a concerted, radical, dangerous attack that seeks to undermine the very basis of free civilization. look at who they are targeting. journalists, children, police officers. and they do not discriminate between americans, israelis,
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parisians. they target the west. and yet, you cannot win a war against radical islamic terrorists with an administration that is unwilling to attend the words radical islamic terrorism. these were not a bunch of text off -- these were not a bunch of ticked off presbyterians. [applause] we will not effectively combat what we are facing until we acknowledge what we are facing. just recently, president al sisi in egypt get a courageous and important speech. for a muslim leader, he stood up and urged peaceful muslims to stand up against this corruption of their faith.
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that is, urging people to murder in the name of faith. that starts to lay out. we need allies who will take this on. i've got to say, it is hard to enlist the support of allies when america ceases being a good ally. how sad it was it in the streets of paris as 40 world leaders walked down the street, absenct was the united states of america. where was the president? where was the vice president? where was the secretary of state? where was the attorney general you have been there moments before but chose to get on a plane and fly back home.
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all of us remember september 11, 2001. i was living here in washington, d.c., just south of the pentagon. my wife was working at the white house. i remember her having to pull off her shoes and have to walk barefoot across memorial bridge because she could not get to her car. i remember the putrid stink in the air of the smoldering pentagon. in the immediate aftermath of september 11, nations across the world came and stood with america. the nation of france stood with america. it was sad and unfortunate that we have not seen that same leadership from this administration now. i would note that that lack of seriousness and purpose that lack of resolve this profoundly dangerous. it is dangerous because it
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encourages radical islamic terrorists to redouble their efforts. it is dangerous because nations like iran see that weakness. the single greatest threat to our national security is the threat of iran acquiring nuclear weapons capability. this administration seems bound and determined to go down the road of a full hearty deal -- of a foolhardy deal. described as the obamacare of the second term. that is a comforting commitment.
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one of the things i hope we see from the new majority in congress is meaningful oversight and leadership to restore america's leadership in the world. i hope we see congress hold this administration accountable and do everything we can so we stand with our friends and allies. and we demonstrate to be resolved that is necessary to stand up to those who pose serious threats to the national security of this country. to those who would seek to murder innocent americans. that is what we need from a republican majority. bold, positive leadership. on jobs, on liberty, on security. we need to demonstrate that we believe the words we sat on the campaign trail. we need to demonstrate that we will fight for the men and women of america. not simply for the growing power
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of washington, d.c. that is what this conference is about. i want to close the way i started. by simply saying to each of you, thank you. thank you for urging this majority to earn the mandate we have been given. god bless you. [applause] >> thank you. we have time for a few questions. thank you very much, senator cruz. before we move into questions, we want to do a brief housekeeping update. representative jordan will be here soon. and was able to get off his plane earlier. we will have representative jordan up. he's going to give a speech
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about conservative action in 2015. after that, we will have our freshmen members of congress have a panel. as awesome as senator cruz is, please everybody stick around and do not follow him out the door. you are going to learn a lot about 2016 and 2017 because of the actions on the house floor. questions for senator cruz. >> thank you so much for everything. i appreciate it. you talked about legislation to break down obamacare and all the different things. one of our real concerns as a citizen is the leadership that is going to do it. i do not have confidence in our leadership in the house of representatives or the senate. are we going to have leaders who are going to rise up and put their minds to it? do we have senators who are going to work towards those goals together?
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>> i hope so. a lot of people across this country naturally distrust politicians. i think that is very healthy. is easy for those who have been in washington a long time to focus on priorities other than the priorities of the american people. when we were campaigning obamacare and stopping amnesty were one and two out of the list of virtually every republican candidate. and if voters acted decisively in that direction. what i would encourage our leadership to do is to follow on that. listen leadership does not care
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what i or any other member of congress says. the best way to get leadership to actually follow through on those commitments is for you for the men and women in this room, for the people who elected us to make clear that we expect elected officials to follow through. one of the things i have purged 27 -- one of the things i have urged 27 million texans i represent to hold all of us in cannibal including me, hold us accountable for the promises we make. that is the way to maximize the likelihood that the majority carries through on the promises we made. you have my word i'm going to do everything possible to encourage us to do exactly that. >> right here. >> i am with the pakistani
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spectators. think you for acknowledging the event and pakistan killing innocent children. my question is, since they are killing more muslims than anybody else. it seems to be a fight between iran and saudi arabia isn't it better to leave them alone and kill each other rather than getting involved and making an enemy? my second question is how realistic it is to abolish the irs. thanks. >> has a lot of substance there. i agree with you, when it comes to iraq and isis, the nurses that america would go in there and demand reconciliation and consensus between sunni and shiite. who, as you know, have been vigorously disagreeing since 6
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32 ad, is the height of ignorance and hubris. we are not going to do that. it is not our job to bring about peace and tranquility across the globe. it is our job to protect the national security interest of the u.s. and our allies. and where it becomes a discrete issue for us is twofold. number one with regard to isis. they have declared their intention to murder americans. with the land they have seized, roughly the size of indiana, with the ability to capture billions in oil revenue they are qualitatively dangerous and we need to actually protect our national security. with regard to iran if iran were to acquire nuclear weapons capabilities, in my view, the danger is qualitatively different. the risks are unacceptably high.
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that an iranian regime with nuclear weapons would accuse those nuclear weapons -- would use those nuclear weapons. the best case scenario is it sets off a nuclear arms race through the middle east as arab countries rushed to acquire nuclear weapons to counterbalance he ran. i do not think we should do what the obama administration suggests try to produce political harmony and cause those who are battling to lay down their arms and sing kumbaya. i do think we need to resolve to protect this country. is it realistic to abolish the irs? it may not be with president obama and the white house.
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hard to imagine a scenario in which he would do that. one of the great things about our political process, there are things that today it may not be realistic that time become realistic with a political movement behind. i would note, if we got in the michael j fox delorean i made reference to and we went back to october 1980 when ronald reagan was running for president. if i were to told you in october 1980 if reagan gets elected he is going to pass fundamental tax reform which by the way, the democrats with tip o'neill. he's going to cut the top marginal rate from 78% down to 20%. -- 28%. the economy is going to grow from what had been four years of stagnation growing average in less than 1% growth. the economy will grow 7.2% a
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year, lifting many americans out of poverty. the answer would have been that is not realistic. if i have said in october 1980, when the observers were saying the soviet union is unstoppable the president was saying we need to accept malaise. if i would have told you that president reagan is going to rebuild our military and put so much pressure on the soviet union that the soviet union will collapse and the berlin wall will be torn to the ground, in october 1980 that would answer would be that is not realistic. i agree, abolishing the irs is major reform. i do not think it is anywhere near as difficult as what we were able to accomplish in the 1980's. i also believe if the american people say enough is enough we find our federal government but we do not have to empower
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bureaucrats over our lives. the impossible becomes possible with the american people. >> we have time for one more question. sorry, is that somebody right here? >> with the current administration releasing u.s. enemies from gitmo and trying to put general petronas in jail -- trying to put general petraeus in jail, is it too provocative a question to ask which side we are on? >> i would frame at a little differently. this administration has a very difficult time differentiating good guys from bad guys. one of the striking things as you travel to world is our friends and allies, quite consistently, will pull you aside -- defense ministers,
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heads of states, foreign ministers. in hushed tones, they will say, where is america? what has happened? we saw this yesterday in paris. quite literally, where is america? for six years, we have abandoned our friends and allies. and at the same time -- that has been true across the globe, by the way. whether it is france, whether it is canada, our largest trading partner. where this administration has blocked the keystone pipeline for years despite the thousands of jobs it would generate in canada and the u.s. whether it is the u.k. exemplified by in the opening weeks of the administration sending churchill's bust
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back. or whether it is the shameful treatment of the nation of israel. the obama administration has been the most antagonistic administration to the nation of israel in history. consistently this administration has refused to stand by our friends and allies. at the same time, when it comes to our enemies, when it comes to the bad guys whether it is thugs like putin the administration began by canceling the anti-ballistic missile batteries into poland to. appease mr. putin
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we recall the words to mr. med vedev, "tell putin i will have more flexibility after the election." how has that worked out? the treatment of karen. -- of iran. allowing billions of dollars to flow into a rant while they build centrifuges or enrich uranium. the nation of cuba. the president suddenly embraces the castro communist regime that has murdered and tortured citizens, doing so in a way that caused the castros to celebrate their embrace from the president. or whether it is when it comes to radical islamic terrorists. former secretary of state hillary clinton saying we just need a little bit more empathy.
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no, we do not need empathy for radical islamic terrorists. we need the resolve to stop them. the consistent pattern is this administration is unable or unwilling to distinguish between friend and foe. the sad reality right now is our friends do not trust us in our enemies do not fear us. that is a dangerous state of affairs for the united states and a dangerous state of affairs for the world and it needs to change. thank you. [applause] >> senator, thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> the heritage foundation is holding its policy summit this week. they will hear from mike lee and
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rand paul. live coverage starting at 1:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> "washington journal" is next. we look at the day's news, including president obama's meeting with congressional leaders. the house is in this morning. they will work on changes to financial regulations and homeland security department funding. white house coverage on c-span. coming up this hour, congressman bill flores will join us to talk about the gop agenda and the president's upcoming state of the union speech. peter welch discusses his party's legislative priorities. u.s. national security concerns in the wake of the terrorist attacks. later kathy kiely of the
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sunlight foundation on the effect of lobbying restrictions. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. host: good morning, everyone, and welcome to the "washington journal," on this tuesday, january 13. president obama will gather with congressional leaders to discuss the legislative agenda. the conversation comes at the senate yesterday agreed to move toward on debate over the keystone xl pipeline, a bill the white house says it will veto. also in the news, "washington post" reporting that mitt romney is putting back together his team in 2012 for a third shot at the white house. other gop contenders reacting to the news, and so we want to get your thoughts on that this morning.